WHOIS 503: Unable to service request due to high volume

joebert

Genius

Posts: 13511

Loc: Florida

3+ Months Ago

Has anyone been getting an unusually high number of "ERROR 503: Unable to service request due to high volume." messages from WHOIS queries lately? I first started seeing this error a few days ago when I was using a forum's WHOIS button. I figured that since I'm not the only person who can use that button maybe a lot of us were using it at the same time and the WHOIS server was telling us to slow down, so I forgot about it. I've been getting the same message today, from different locations though.

Are the servers which process WHOIS queries under attack; Have they been forced to cut back costs and got rid of hardware; Is there something getting ready to happen that has everyone WHOIS'ing like there's no tomorrow ?

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23473

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

I got it several times today when trying to query Arin. But it wasn't just OZZU /forum. It did the same thing when I used Geektools whois lookup

joebert

Genius

Posts: 13511

Loc: Florida

3+ Months Ago

I get it when running a WHOIS query from the commandline of the server sitting right next to me at home as well.